Bruised Forearms

Last Friday I squeezed in a massage between the end of my workday and a 9-hole round of golf with Doug.

I booked it to give my legs some tough love.

Instead, I decided to see if we could improve the condition of my sore elbow.

I explained the symptoms. We discussed the last year - lots of golf, lots of typing and writing at work, lots of swimming. We decided that this issue has been slowly developing over a fairly long period of time. And that my attempts at self-treatment were not really helping much.

It turns out that, when tendonitis happens, it's usually because of tight muscles.

Two seconds into my forearms being worked on, we both knew that we were dealing with very very tight muscles.

My massage therapist focused on trying to loosen up the almost solid muscles in my forearms.

I focused on breathing and trying valiantly (and successfully) not to faint or vomit right there on the bed.

A little while later, my blood sugar had shot up to the high teens and my forearms were red and throbbing.

Through the haze of pain I could tell that they were much improved. So much so that I felt nary a twinge in my elbow.

I left and headed straight for the golf course. Nine holes later, my elbow didn't hurt at all.

My forearms however we so bruised and sore that the wind hurt. The feel of my sweater on my arms hurt. Thinking about my arms hurt. Icing my arms felt fabulous.

The next morning I woke to find visible bruises on both arms. And nary a twinge in my elbow.

And Sunday's 9-hole game with Doug and some friends didn't hurt my elbow one bit.

Forearm massage number two is less than two weeks away. Here's hoping the second time isn't nearly as brutal as the first.

Oh, and I played so well on Sunday that my handicap dropped again. My goal of getting it under 40 by the end of the season may need to be re-evaluated if this keeps up.

Maybe I'll get really ambitious and aim for 35.

Elbow Recovery

I've been doing some pretty focused rehab on my right elbow for the last five days in an effort to get this tendonitis under control.

After last Tuesday's golf game, when I realized that things had not improved very much, I went online to see if I could find some at home stretching and strengthening exercises.

I found some, seven in fact, that seemed fairly straight-foward and not too bizarre (online being what it is, there is some weird stuff out there). The seven exercises were to be repeated twice per day followed by icing of the elbow.

I began on Wednesday of last week. One of the exercises in particular was pretty painful and I could not do more than 6 repeats (I'm supposed to work up to between 30-50). And by the time I hit six I no longer had enough strength in my hand to grip my makeshift weight (which, by the way, was a half-empty jar of almond butter).

I stretched, I strengthened, I iced and I went to bed.

The next morning, things felt much much better.

I carried on over Thursday, Friday and Saturday and, by Saturday, I was doing 25 repeats of the movement I could hardly do on Wednesday.

My elbow was still sore but much better and the pain hung around mostly for the few hours after I worked it and then it settled down again.

Sunday, Doug and I had booked a tentative golf game. Tentative based on my elbow.

I was nervous but decided to try it. Worst case, I would play one hole and we would go home again.

We played nine and stopped because it was terribly cold and windy, not because my elbow wanted me to.

There was still a fair amount of sensitivity when I swung the club but the degree of pain I felt last Tuesday was much reduced. So while I didn't cure it in four days (which I never expected to anyway) but I certainly made some progress.

That makes me feel better. Not better enough to get back into the pool and back on the rowing machine but better enough to play golf once or twice a week.

Speaking of golf, we played nine holes and it went so well that, when I entered my score into the golfing scoring system, my handicap dropped. Pretty wonderful way to start the 2015 season non?

Tendonitis Trials

A few weeks ago I wrote about my golf-induced tendonitis in my right elbow. 

I talked about ordering something called a Flexbar and using it to help me stretch and strengthen my elbow so that I would be healed and golf-ready by golf season in Canada. 

Things were going well. They really were. My elbow was feeling better by the day and certainly by the week. 

Then I started swimming and that seemed to aggravate it. Not a ton but I could feel it. It would be tender or sore for a few days after a swim, it would recover and then I would swim again. 

Then I started using the erg machine at my new fitness centre which wasn't making my elbow any happier. Add some upper body weight training on top of that and things were no longer improving the way they had been back in early March. 

Did I mention that I have started colouring? Which, as it turns out, requires my right hand. It didn't hurt during the colouring sessions but  it would be tender for hours afterwards. 

So on Tuesday night, when I headed out for my first ladies' league 9-hole golf game, I was a little worried about my elbow. 

I gripped the club in my hand - no pain in my elbow. 

I lifted the club - pain in my elbow.

I swung the club - pain in my elbow. 

So much for my ambitious goal of being completely healed by golf season. 

I've added some strengthening exercises and some stretching exercises to my routine. I no longer lift anything heavier than a toothbrush with my right hand and I'm icing and resting as much as I can. No swimming this week and no fitness centre either. 

Hopefully I can get it to calm down enough to resume the healing process.